Jose Pedraza’s strong performance against Mikkel LesPierre in July was no anomaly. If anything, he looked ever better against Javier Molina on Saturday.
The former two-division titleholder continued his resurgence as an elite fighter, defeating Molina by a wide unanimous decision in a 10-round junior welterweight bout inside the MGM Grand “bubble” in Las Vegas.
Pedraza (28-3, 13 KOs) has now won two consecutive fights impressively after a stretch in which he was 1-2, with losses to Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jose Zepeda that raised questions about the 31-year-old Puerto Rican’s future in the sport.
Pedraza outboxed Molina from the start and gradually wore him down, which allowed him to run away with the victory. He hurt Molina late in the final round but couldn’t finish the job.
The final scores were 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92, meaning Molina won one round on one card and two on the second and third.
Pedraza was ranked by any of the major sanctioning bodies but, after two strong performances and in light of his reputation, he’ll probably become a 140-pound contender.
Molina (22-3, 9 KOs) had built some momentum after a 2½-year hiatus from the sport, winning five consecutive fights. That included a unanimous-decision victory over former titleholder Amir Imam in February.
Now the former U.S. Olympian will have to rebuild again.